A presentation at UX South Africa in in Cape Town, South Africa by Kevin Cannon
Design and the sleight of hand EXPLORING THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND MAGIC AND HOW IT RELATES TO DESIGN. KEVIN CANNON @MULTIKEV
Designing the right thing Designing the thing right
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” — Arthur C. Clarke.
Pepper’s Ghost HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=ZKVD-XWXGJS
HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML
HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML
HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML
HTTP://USERS.TELENET.BE/THOMASWEYNANTS/PEPPERS-GHOST.HTML
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=FFHNDWFETR8
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=FFHNDWFETR8
q w a e s z r d x t f c y g v u h b i j n o k m
q w a e s z r d x t f c y g v u h b i j n o k m
“Visually augmented progress bars could be used to make processes appear 11% faster, when in reality, their duration remains unchanged.” FASTER PROGRESS BARS: MANIPULATING PERCEIVED DURATION WITH VISUAL AUGMENTATIONS. HARRISON, C., YEO, Z., AND HUDSON, S. E. 2010. CHI ‘10. ACM, NEW YORK, NY. 1545-1548. z
Use illusion to to draw attention to or away from something.
Forcing
HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=0ML15LQCFUE
ALTHOUGH THE MAGICIAN COULD INFLUENCE THE CHOICE ALMOST EVERY TIME (98%), RELATIVELY FEW (9%) NOTICED THIS INFLUENCE. HTTP://WWW.SCIENCEDIRECT.COM/SCIENCE/ARTICLE/PII/S1053810015000057
So … how do we use persuasion?
HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/2012/08/19/OPINION/SUNDAY/WHY-WAITING-IN-LINE-IS-TORTURE.HTML
HTTP://WWW.INTERNETRETAILER.COM/2011/01/05/ORIENTALFURNITURECOM-DRIVES-CONVERSION-76-SECURITY
HTTP://WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK/NEWS/UK/POLITICS/HOW-ORGAN-DONATION-IS-GETTING-NUDGE-IN-THE-RIGHT-DIRECTION-TRIAL-COULD-PAVE-WAYFOR-100000-EXTRA-9023349.HTML
“IF YOU NEEDED AN ORGAN TRANSPLANT, WOULD YOU HAVE ONE? IF SO, PLEASE HELP OTHERS.” HTTP://WWW.INDEPENDENT.CO.UK/NEWS/UK/POLITICS/HOW-ORGAN-DONATION-IS-GETTING-NUDGE-IN-THE-RIGHT-DIRECTION-TRIAL-COULD-PAVE-WAYFOR-100000-EXTRA-9023349.HTML
the irresistible HTTP://UNBOUNCE.COM/CONVERSION-RATE-OPTIMIZATION/MADE-UP-PRODUCT-INCREASED-CONVERSIONS/
the irresistible HTTP://UNBOUNCE.COM/CONVERSION-RATE-OPTIMIZATION/MADE-UP-PRODUCT-INCREASED-CONVERSIONS/
Product line-up BGNM-2250 BGN BGN3
Use spacial, visual & social persuasion to guide people to better choices.
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/3881185
Let’s look again without misdirection
HTTP://VIMEO.COM/3881082
With misdirection Without misdirection KUHN, GUSTAV, TATLER, BENJAMIN W. AND COLE, GEOFF G.(2009)’YOU LOOK WHERE I LOOK! EFFECT OF GAZE CUES ON OVERT AND COVERT ATTENTION IN MISDIRECTION’,VISUAL COGNITION,17:6,925 — 944
Obvious misdirection
What you saw happen A B C D
What you guess happened X A B C D
What actually happened X A B C D
INSTAGRAM STARTS UPLOAD HERE MOST APPS START UPLOAD HERE
15 min wait z
1 min walk 7 min wait z
“Often the psychology of queuing is more important than the statistics of the wait itself.” — Richard Larson, M.I.T. z
When you have limitations you can’t get around, use misdirection to improve the user experience
BEYOND THE PIXEL HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO
HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO
HTTP://MASHABLE.COM/2015/03/28/MICHAEL-JACKSON-SHOE-PATENT/#M9A3CLYVKMQO
Conditioned responses “Post Hoc fallacy”
HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/
HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/
HTTP://UXMOVEMENT.COM/BUTTONS/HOW-TO-MAKE-PROGRESS-BARS-FEEL-FASTER-TO-USERS/
the reverse
Trick users, when it benefits them.
Deception can be sneaky
HTTP://MERCURY.IO/THE-PSYCHOLOGY-OF-WAITING-LOADING-ANIMATIONS-AND-FACEBOOK/
HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/
HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/
HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/
HTTPS://DARKPATTERNS.ORG/
HTTP://WWW.BBC.COM/NEWS/MAGAZINE-35091242
So, what can we take from this?
How do people interpret the world around them?
We can learn a lot from other fields
“Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect” — Penn & Teller
Thank you KEVIN CANNON @MULTIKEV
Exploring the psychology behind magic and how it relates to design.
Keynote at UX South Africa, Cape Town, Nov 2017
for free. You
can too.